(Beware the foam...)

Why is it so hard for people to just be nice to each other? Is there something in the universe that says X amount of people need to be assholes? Not sure about that one.

It's almost impossible to do anything invention related in this world any more (especially in the US) without having a ton of money to hire lawyers to protect your idea. The days have passed when mailing the idea to yourself to secure the copyright is worth the price of the postage. A sad thing and hopefully soon to be stopped. The world is on the verge of being filled with makers again. And it scares the hell out of those making the big bucks because they don't control it. They'd outlaw anything but "approved" making if they could.

Goddess willing I'll be one of those makers. I already enjoy it but honestly I don't have the resources to do the things I want to do. This shall be resolved eventually but will I be able to do it in time for me to be able to invest myself in it? I just don't know.

We need transparency at almost every level of society. Not just government but quite a bit in other areas. I'm not being Zuckerberg and saying we need to give up privacy but honestly anything that handles money for more than a dozen people or could potentially put people out of work seriously or any number of other things. I don't know. This one is very fuzzy. I know we need something but honestly it's hard to figure out just what is needed there. I'll let that one steep a little...

Why is it pet adoption is so expensive? I mean seriously! There are a ton of pets out there that need homes and just will be killed if they don't find them. Yet the average dog adoption I've seen is in the $200 - $400 range. Really?? 'Cmon! Animal shelters go as low as $80 so I look there first. Unfortunately we can't get a big dog due to space or a high-strung dog due to my daughter's autism and the fact that I'm gone at least 10 hours a day. (*grump* Wish I could work from home some days...) Still most places want way too much. I know they need to pay for care and such but there should be something to take the edge off. Most of us are looking for a family member not reselling or breeding or fighting. :-(

Just watched a video of an Earthship that was started in Africa - a school - but then left for the natives to finish. It's almost finished and it's awesome. Those buildings are massively stable and if you reclaim everything necessary the only thing that they really need is concrete. And for the most part that's pretty cheap. You could in theory put a wood roof on one or a roof of some other material. It wouldn't be as thermally stable or hardy but it certainly would suck less resources than the average western style house.

I hope my raspberries grow back. My neigbor cut them down when he helped me get rid of all the weeds in my garden area. Unfortunately they were mature and producing fruit. Now...I'm estimating that I'm looking at around two years before they begin fruiting again. I can't complain though because he was cleaning up my yard and I didn't have money to pay him at that time. On top of that I forgot to water my strawberries and all but two of them are dead. Wonderful. Hopefully I can get them to grow back as well. Need more honey bees. Also thinking about putting in a bat house.

Replaced the kitchen faucet today to the tune of about $70 all told. And that happens to be a cheap plastic faucet and sprayer. Needless to say that will be replaced as soon as we can afford a good metal one. Hopefully now that all the leaks are fixed our water bill will go down a bit. At least the area directly under the sink will be dry from now on. I'll probably put some kitty litter under there though just in case.

Thinking about a rock waterfall style shower when we re-do the bathroom. Something like a giant slate piece jutting out of the wall that pours water over the side. A conventional large showerhead above as well of course. And a hand sprayer. I figure if we're going to re-do that we should go for the gusto. All this into a tile tub. Or maybe even a bamboo tub. That would be really cool.

Why is it such a big deal for everyone to conform? Quite honestly the world is more fun when people _don't_ fit the same mold! *sigh*

So many ideas so little income... Have to get that winning lottery ticket under my belt here as soon as possible...

I think I'm going to try and get to sleep early so I can get up and do more unfucking of our habitat tomorrow. I need to unfuck my workshop as that's in need of organization so I can get the stuff in the house that needs to go out there can go out there. I also need to find the second Ertl(Ertie?) rack fan installed into the vent stack in the workshop roof so I can help cool that place much better than it is now. Maybe I should put out the call to Freecycle for things like exhaust fans of all types. Or rack fans.